During the past few years, nothing about Summerfest has been as constant as the annual visit from country piano man Phil Vassar and the good-timing fans that his party-friendly shows draw. So, it is fitting that this year's Summerfest crowd plays a starring role in the music video for Vassar's new single, "Love is Alive." Presented as a narrative of "love in three acts," the video, directed by Steve Condon, follows a romance across the years with a midlife pit stop onstage at Vassar's shows in Chicago and Milwaukee this summer. The song is bright, catchy and uplifting.

In the video, the raucous crowd at the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard stage cheers as Vassar looks down at his hands on the piano keyboard and sees them as a child and an old man, all in love. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(1)

WKKV-FM (100.7) dropped the syndicated Steve Harvey morning show this week after hearing "from many folks who wanted a morning show that was a better fit" for the hip-hop station, according to Jeff Tyler, regional market manager for Clear Channel Communications.

Harvey's show has been replaced by a show called "The Breakfast Club," originating from Clear Channel sister station WWPR-FM in New York. It is billed as "the world's most dangerous morning show. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(5)

ACOUSTIC

DUE OUT TUESDAY

THE GREAT GATSBY (Warner) Baz Luhrmann's flashy but empty adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's beloved novel of love, loss, obsession and the roaring 1920s, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, feels like a missed opportunity. The first hour is hypnotic, from the wide shots of New York skylines to the sensory overload of the parties at Gatsby's mansion. But the hollowness of the characters makes the second half of the movie drag. With Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki. (PG-13; some violent images, sex, smoking, partying, brief language) ★★ | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Article

10 a.m. Friday

The Port Washington Maritime Heritage Festival has music (headliners include the Finn MacCools at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Naima Adepapo at 7:45 p.m. Saturday, and SaddleBrook at 3 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday), food and lots and lots of boats — as well as ticketed (read: you have to pay) tours of the city's harbor. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Article

A new Mexican restaurant is open in Walker’s Point: Cafe La Paloma debuted last week at 606 S. 5th St.

Milwaukee artist Jose Chavez is the owner. His own artwork and works from his collection decorate the restaurant, he said, and one wall is dedicated to the Day of the Dead. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Sandra Wilson's bunny ears blink in frenetic fashion, and the glow-in-the-dark whistle hanging from her neck sways as she steps to "The Electric Slide."

But when she sits down at a long table toward the back of the ballroom, Wilson is focused on her task. Numbers appear on the four-sided screens hanging from the ceiling, and with each one, Wilson moves the dauber in her hand with the precision of a conductor. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Article(2)

With an album title like "World Keeps Sinking," you kind of know where the 7-year-old sludge metal band Northless is coming from.

"I have a negative view when it comes to life," singer, songwriter, guitarist and band founder Erik Stenglein told me recently at Hi-Fi Cafe, a perspective informed in part by some of what he's seen as a social worker for about a decade. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Article

As the blackout of Journal Broadcast Group stations on Time Warner Cable enters its 28th day, the cable service took out a full-page newspaper ad listing services it would be offering customers "to make this easier on you."

When Ke$ha came to the Rave's Eagles Ballroom three years ago on the heels of her vapid first single, "Tik Tok" (that's the one where she endorsed Jack Daniel's as toothpaste) "many female fans of the glittery pop starlet were locked in a figurative arms race to see who could be the drunkest, most scandalously dressed in the audience," according to a Journal Sentinel review.

But the message evidently has changed. Ke$ha's sold-out Eagles show Wednesday was about being "free," living the night as if it were "our last," celebrating "misfits" and fighting for "acceptance," we were told via recorded message at the start of an 80-minute set. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Article

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, featured in the documentary “Brothers Hypnotic,” will perform at the opening-night party of the 2013 Milwaukee Film Festival, it was announced Wednesday.

The party, which annually starts the festival off with a bang, will be held at Discovery World, 500 N. Harbor Dr. starting at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 26. The fifth annual festival runs through Oct. 10. | Aug. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

The weekend starts today at Turner Hall Ballroom with the musical styling of Dar Williams, a contemporary pop-folk singer-songwriter who has been likened to Jewel. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets cost about $25 bucks.

If comedy is your style, swing by Comedy Cafe to hear Shaun Jones perform live from 8 to 9:30 p.m. The comedian has been seen on BET's "Comic View," Starz's "1st Amendment Standup" and the 2003 film "Shade," starring Jamie Foxx and Sylvester Stallone. Tickets are normally $12 with a two-drink minimum.